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Origin and history

Château Dillon finds its origins in a medieval strong house, Terrefort Castle, attested as early as 1596. On that date, the widow of Henri de Laussade bought vines, probably white grape varieties, then dominant in Medoc. The present castle was built at the end of the 17th century, as evidenced by the well dated 1705. This site, located in Blanquefort, becomes a wine estate under the impulse of successive owners, marking the landscape of the Haut-Médoc.

In 1753, the Irish merchant Robert Dillon, naturalized French, acquired the estate after settling in Bordeaux to take over the business of his deceased brother. His bank success allowed him to buy Terrefort Castle, which he later renamed. At his death in 1764, his heirs, affected by the Revolution, saw part of the estate confiscated in 1792. One of his sons managed to rebuild him by buying the plots until 1806, before the property changed hands several times.

In 1829 François Seignouret, a Bordelais enriched in Louisiana in luxury cabinetmaking, bought the estate. He founded a wine export company and transformed the workshops into cellars, creating the brand "Château Dillon". In 1840 he built traditional cellars, rebuilt after a fire. After his death in 1852, his widow enlarged the vineyard, bringing the estate to 125 hectares in 1890, 52 of which were dedicated to the vineyard.

The castle remained in the Seignouret family until 1956, when Marie-Thérèse Filippini, great-granddaughter of François, sold it to the Ministry of Agriculture. Since 1923, part of the land had been leased to an agricultural school, which in 1963 became the Blanquefort wine school. Today, the site forms an EPLEFPA (local public educational and vocational training institution) and produces a wine AOC Haut-Médoc, certified ISO 14001 since 2004.

The castle, inscribed in the Historical Monuments in 1984, retains remarkable elements: an entrance gate with its gate, a well dated 1705, protected facades and roofs, as well as an 18th century wrought iron staircase. The interior decorations, like a fireplace carved by small characters and musical instruments, testify to its rich architectural past.

The wine holding covers 40 hectares of gravitational and argilo-calcary, planted mainly with cabernet Sauvignon (52%) and merlot (41%). With an annual production of 250,000 bottles, Château Dillon continues a wine tradition linked to Franco-Irish history and educational innovation.

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